The Whispering Cairn (Inactive)

Game Master Death-Lok

Fortitude DC 15: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (10) + 17 = 27

Earthquake only restricts you from making an attack or moving (there are plenty of actions that don't require either), it doesn't stop spellcasting, only makes it more difficult. Here's the quote from what you quoted above "A spellcaster on the ground must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level) or lose any spell he or she tries to cast." Also, from the concentration rules "Violent Motion - If you are on a galloping horse, taking a very rough ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rapids or in a storm, on deck in a storm-tossed ship, or being pitched roughly about in a similar fashion, you must make a concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the spell you're casting) or lose the spell. If the motion is extremely violent, such as that caused by an earthquake, the DC is equal to 20 + the level of the spell you're casting." - emphasis mine. Earthquake is nice but not all powerful just die if your caught on the ground. I still agree with your post above, and it did stop the dracolich from attacking this round.

1. Ok, GM, thank you for the explanation. 2. Alie, when you use Moment of Greatness, you lose the spell, not Greater Heroism. Also within 30' of me, which you are, you get +10 luck bonus on Will saves so you might want to save the moment of greatness for another type of save. 3. We are protected by Life Bubble so we are immune to inhaled poison gases or vapors. Do we still need to make Fort saves? 4. If it's our turn, Friar will use a quickened dispel magic to get rid of the smoke. 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39 and then base the rest of his action on what he/party sees if anything.

Okay, I wasn't clear on the particular spell that vanished after using it. Thanks for clearing that up.

Also what spell did Dragotha cast to conjure the smoke? Alie can identify up to 6th level spells without rolling if they are cast in her presence and with that DC, it seems like a low level spell. Or did he cast the Timestop first? Ah then never mind.

I believe Timestop was first. Who knows what shenanigans he got up to while we were stuck in time.

Doing some research. Yes, I believe Life Bubble would protect against the smokes harmful effects.

Valgrim: Yes, the spells were cast after the Timestop started, so not seen cast as you suspected.

Ferez dispels the smoke causing it to quickly disappate and revealing the menacing hovering form of Dragotha much closer than you would like! His form is now between the rest of you and Valgrim, you can not even see the dwarf as the skeletal dragon completely blocks the tunnel entrance. Alie, Bublaka, and Valgrim all realize that they are all within easy striking distance. What's more disturbing is that he seems to have fully recovered and repaired all the damage that Valgrim did to him! He is surrounded by his natural red dragon fiery aura and multiple images of him flicker about for those without True Seeing.

Carry on your actions. Smoke is removed from the map. Don't forget you can trade around the Balakarde fragments.

Alie casts Quickened Dimension Door to appear safely behind Valgrim.

On my phone tonight, so I don't have map access. Can someone move me say 75' or so behind Valgrim, putting he between Dragotha and I? Thanks. I think that's an 8th level spell, so I'm marking that slot off.

Alie: Got it and done :) Furthest you can be is 40' feet behind Valgrim. I will however mention that the spell stops you from taking further actions this round after you cast it. I am assuming you intend to do something more, so may want to do it before you cast that. Little Venk the derro was a special Dimension Door case and could take actions during the spell.

40' is a lot better than where I was! Thanks so much. Question: Dim Door spell
Description says you can't take other actions after casting the spell that round. Is a Quickened Dim Door the same?

Yes, see above. Do you want to take Bublaka with you? He was right next to you. FYI: Your 40' feet behind Valgrim which is 55' feet from Dragotha.

No, guys, let's not start reacting out of fear and wasting rounds. This guy should be dead by now but I screwed up as I was unaware that he could cast spells while under the effects of the tremor. I won't make same mistake again. Besides, it is still Friar's action as he did a quickened dispel magic, so you guys cannot act before me. Sorry, GM, put Alie back where she was.

Friar shouts, "Do not be afraid, guys, Sarenrae has your back! Stick to the plan and we will destroy this bastard once and for all." At no time did I hear that Dragotha was flying (plus had he been, his wings would have blown away his smoke cloud), so Friar casts Earthquake again. Another localized tremor hits the dracolich and he is off balance again for a whole round.

Friar starts barking orders:
"Alie, you can move safely around him now. Fly around and throw Valgrim at him again." You can also cast a quickened spell as well after your move and standard action.
"Bublaka, get out of its threatened range and prepare to dispel if he starts casting." Spellcraft the spell first and use your tons of Hero Points!

Archon stays where he is, out of LoS.

Damn Wish spell. Such a villain only spell since the players will hardly ever have the 25,000 gp diamond to use. And I think we can guess the 3 spells used: Wish to heal himself of all damage, some form of Obscuring Mist and Teleport, since he could not otherwise have moved. And a quickened mirror image. Well time to cut him again.

I like Friar barking orders. :) Assuming Alie follows through with another TK charge...

"Alie, throw me at its head!"
Immediate action attack with Furious Focus: 1d20 + 71 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 71 + 2 = 92...critical
1d20 + 51 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 51 + 2 = 68
Damage: 4d4 + 100 + 4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 2, 2) + 100 + (1, 4, 3, 6) = 123
Full-attack:
Hasted attack: 1d20 + 65 ⇒ (1) + 65 = 66
1d20 + 65 ⇒ (4) + 65 = 69...use this one
Damage: 2d4 + 50 + 4d6 ⇒ (2, 3) + 50 + (6, 3, 3, 2) = 69
1st attack: 1d20 + 65 ⇒ (1) + 65 = 66
1d20 + 65 ⇒ (15) + 65 = 80...critical
Damage: 4d4 + 100 + 4d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 3) + 100 + (6, 5, 5, 2) = 130
2nd attack: 1d20 + 61 ⇒ (20) + 61 = 81...critical, brilliant inspiration ends
Damage: 4d4 + 100 + 4d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 2, 1) + 100 + (2, 2, 1, 1) = 112
3rd attack: 1d20 + 56 ⇒ (18) + 56 = 74..critical
Damage: 4d4 + 100 + 4d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 2) + 100 + (4, 4, 4, 5) = 125
4th attack: 1d20 + 51 ⇒ (2) + 51 = 53...don't know it it hits
Damage: 2d4 + 50 + 4d6 ⇒ (1, 4) + 50 + (2, 1, 6, 6) = 70
Total without last hit: 559
With last hit: 629
Rounds of Rage used: 2/10
Stick to Friar's plan, Bubba! I can live without Brilliant Inspiration as long as you stop the Wish healing.

Hold up, do you think I am being unfair? I did say he was hovering. The smoke was actually emanating in a spread from him, so no it wouldn't have disappeared. Not that it would have had time to so also. As far as wing beats, that was probably an oversight by me but not an intentional one as I figured it was pretty obvious that he was in the smoke which you still would have dispelled. Earthquake will have no effect, he would have to be pretty dumb to get himself caught off-guard by it again.

Yep, wishes getting cast around but you gotta expect it from this kind of epic big bad guy.

Spell clearly says he cannot move so he cannot hover. Yes, he could cast spells but that's it. The only way you moved him would have to be with a teleport cast during the Time Stop, as again he could not move on his own. But still that does not give him right to move even 5' or flap his wings and hover. He would teleport on the ground. And if you say the dragon cast fly on himself..

EDIT: Ok, fine, I will not argue the point - he is hovering. But then to say the party can't see me on the other side is kind of wonky. This is a skeletal dragon after all...they can't see through his bones? So the TK spell can be cast defensively (auto-success for Alie) and the round is the same except you get an AoO against me and Friar gets to change his standard action.

If the dragon is hovering, then Friar also readies an action to counterspell through a dispel magic if the dragon starts casting.
After the Telekinetic charge, Alie can quicken dim door away with Bublaka.
The bard can as a swift action inspire greatness in Valgrim and ready the counterspell as a standard action...our dwarf is going to need all the hps he can to survive a full-attack from the dragon, assuming that is what it does.

Holding any decisions until we get a final official ruling from the DM on the last round.

I actually put some time into considering the hovering thing. The question for me was, does he stick around or just teleport away? If he sticks around he'll need to be off the ground because of the Earthquake. So he Timestopped and everything stopped moving including the Earthquake (basically it effectively ended the Earthquake spell early for him - at least while Time Stop was in effect). He cast his wish and spent a full round recovering his balance. He teleports into the air and hovers (not sure if he actually needed to teleport because of recovery time but decided just to cross I's and dot t's). Lastly, even just considering the teleport itself I decided that if a bird or say trumpet archon got caught walking in a Earthquake spell and then teleported 200' feet up they would hover as opposed to plummeting and taking 20d6 damage. You obviously can still take actions during an Earthquake (like spreading your wings, using your hands, talking, etc...) it just stops you from going anywhere. I did in fact actually have him teleport in the end and all these considerations combined seemed to make that a reasonable action, otherwise he'd just teleport away to recover.

Now the line of sight thing was a lot less well thought out. Just had it in my head that mechnically, creatures block line of sight...but that is a faulty premise. So I was like skeletal doen't matter, which is also silly. After actually looking into it this morning, creatures don't normally block line of sight as far as I can tell. Not that I thought it would cause you much heartache as I figured Valgrim would just teleport back next to Alie and get TKed again. But in the end, yes you can see through him just fine.

I certainly don't want there to be any points of contention about how this plays out. He is deadly enough with his Time Stops and Wishes, not trying to add more on top of that just play him as he should be. Everything make sense? If not, we can just have him teleport away to recover.

No points of contention, GM. I realized my error in logic. Once he teleports above the ground, he is no longer shaking and can move and hover. Hence, my edit. Sorry, should have been clearer. You are doing a fine job handling these complicated high level battles. I apologize if my tone implied something else. Also depending on how much damage Valgrim takes from the AoO, he may use his hero points to take additional actions this round.

Valgrim: Thanks, you had a valid point with the line of sight and I took your edit in the light you meant it, no offense was taken. Ok, on to the AOO...

Bite: 1d20 + 57 ⇒ (16) + 57 = 73
Damage: 6d8 + 36 ⇒ (1, 5, 3, 6, 4, 5) + 36 = 60

The massive jaws slam closed with bonebreaking force. Luckily the magics and armor protecting the dwarf stop it from being instantly fatal but it does leave a bloody puncture from a tooth on his leg. Once again the ranger hews into the skeletal monstrosity causing chunks of bone to shatter and fly!

Damage was 559 from Valgrim. The last attack missed.

Summary of round 5 so far:

Ferez: Cast quickened Dispel Magic and holds dispel magic for counterspell.
Alie: Casts Telekinetic charge on Valgrim and quicken D-doors away? With Bublaka?
Valgrim: Charges and then full attacks.
Bublaka: ???

Yes I will take Bublaka with me! Marked off both spells.

Bublaka pops into view with the sorceress on the opposite side of the dracolich.

Are you sure you meant inspire greatness? IIRC, that didn't do much and we were using inspire heroics instead. Either way, I need to move after I appear to the position I am on the map (yellow aura is the effective range of either bardic performance). Let me know which one you want, sarge.

The bard readies an action to dispel a spell.

Yes inspire greatness: gives Valgrim 2 bonus HD + Con bonuses - going to need hps if Dragotha full attacks him. +4 to AC from inspire heroics not helpful when it has +57 hit. Can't you inspire him as a swift action before you are dim door away?

Looks like everyone has taken their actions. Valgrim, you mentioned maybe wanting to spend hero points? Or are you done?

Friar: 1) The effect is only good while he is within range. If I start it and ddoor away, he loses it. and 2) He wasn't in range prior to ddoor, anyway. If I'm going to include him, this is my best choice.

Inspiring greatness for the temporary hit points. I will include myself and Alie in the effect just because I can. Wait, didn't we establish that temporary hit points from multiple sources don't stack? So this would benefit Valgrim because his temporary hp are gone, but not Bublaka or Alie because they retain theirs. Not including the bard and the sorceress, after all.

End of countersong effect

I personally don't think I am going to survive a full-attack so may as well go for broke here before I die so the rest of the party can finish him off. I searched the thread and have not used any hero points since the ghost centipede encounter and we have not been awarded any either so I guess I have 12 per my sheet. Valgrim uses 10 to perform two standard actions which are two Dazing Assaults at highest base attack bonus.
1st Dazing Assault: 1d20 - 5 + 66 ⇒ (13) - 5 + 66 = 74
Damage: 2d4 + 50 + 4d6 ⇒ (1, 2) + 50 + (3, 3, 3, 6) = 68
2nd Dazing Assault: 1d20 - 5 + 66 ⇒ (19) - 5 + 66 = 80...critical
Damage: 4d4 + 100 + 4d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 4, 2) + 100 + (6, 5, 2, 1) = 124
2 Fort DC 30 saves or be Dazed for 1 round.

By ghost centipede, do you mean N'Vesh N'Kar the Urlgurstasta? Can't say that this isn't a good point to spend them. Did I miss giving one out for Thessalar? If I didn't then I should have, so that would be one there. There will of course be a few more after this encounter.

Valgrim smashes his falchion into the dracolich's head twice more and puts a sizable hole in the dragon's skull.

Total damage now: 751

Fort save #1: 1d20 + 36 ⇒ (20) + 36 = 56 Success.
Fort save #2: 1d20 + 36 ⇒ (19) + 36 = 55 Success.

Bublaka and Ferez? You done taking your actions also?

Yes, GM. So we are clear: Friar readies an action to dispel the first spell/spell-like ability cast by Dragotha and our bard readies to dispel the 2nd spell cast in the round in case the dragon quickens his spells. And if instead he full-attacks, we watch in horror.

Whew! Ok, well here goes.

For the second time Valgrim has done devestatiing damage to the legendary dracolich within only a few seconds time. The ranger with his arcane and divine support squad have done the impossible and made the arrogant necromantic engine of death feel something he hasn't in a looooong time....fear! The great undead wyrm quickly begins casting a spell. This is the signal both Ferez and Bublaka are waiting for...

Roll your dispel check Ferez.

Spellcraft to identify spell: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21...that identifies 6th level spells and below: if it's worthy or unknown, Friar tries to dispel; if it's magic missile for example he will not dispel. Does he know what spell Dragon is trying to cast?
Using his last 2 Hero Points to add +4 to Dispel check if needed: 1d20 + 21 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 21 + 4 = 44

It's a quickened Dimension Door.

Ferez unleashes his Dispel Magic to prevent the wiley Dragotha from escaping his fate once more. To Ferez's horror the spell is turned back on him.

Spellturning in effect. Reading the dispel magic it says, "Counterspell: When dispel magic is used in this way, the spell targets a spellcaster and is cast as a counterspell." So spell turning would effect it. That's my understanding anyway, if not let me know.

Bublaka, what do you do?

Fair enough. Friar dispels his own Greater spell immunity.

Would I be able to dispel the spellturning? Or is that the question?

This is not my action, correct? It is still a reaction to his action?

Heh, ummm, dispelling Spell Turning....ummmm....one sec...

How is this: Bublaka notices that a ring adorning one of dragotha's claws flashes as Ferez's spell is rebuffed...

You could target a specific magic item instead of Dragotha. Ideally you want to dispel the Dimension Door so he cannot escape but with Spell Turning in effect its impossible (I think).

Bublaka roll the dispel effect anyway to burn up the spell levels for his spell turning and then he's gone. It will take him 2 rounds at least to come back since he can't take any more actions this round and next round he will timestop and wish himself again and then teleport back.

"It's the ring!"

Bublaka alters his plan, focusing his attention on the massive ring adorning the monster's claw in hopes that he can disable it for at least a time.

Caster Level check: 1d20 + 20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 20 + 4 = 32

The dracolich disappears through the massive dimension door.

Ok, what do you all do now that the dracolich has disappeared?

Valgrim drops out of rage and drinks a potion of lesser restoration. Where is the gigantic hoard I imagined this dragon had?? Time to start pillaging.

In the northern corner of the chamber there is indeed the single most breathtaking pile of treasure and valuables you have ever seen. Gemstones, silk pouches, coffers, swathes of velvet, rings, earrings, necklaces, armbands, braclets, anklets, bejeweled clothing, various finely crafted weapons and suits or armor, paintings, books adorn a pile of what must be millions of various coins! It would take you quite some time to sift through....

"I can cast Time Stop myself and give us a few rounds to go find it," Alie whispers.

No, Time Stop would only give you a few rounds. We would be stopped with the rest of the world. What is it you are looking for?

Looking for the dragon. Expecting he's not left his hoard completely behind. I'm
Figuring he's coming right back ASAP.

Valgrim took 60 damage - 10 for stoneskin=50 damage - 15 temporary hps = 35 damage. The archon flies to Valgrim and casts Cure serious wounds on the dwarf: 3d8 + 14 ⇒ (6, 8, 3) + 14 = 31, so he is down only 4 hps.

Valgrim thanks the archon for the healing.

GM, could you include the hoard on the map? Also need the dimensions on this room. I am sure by the description the hoard does not all fit in a 10' square radius. I want to see if we can piss him off and steal it. I think it is time we give this dragon a reason to stay and fight. He has to know if he teleports away, there's going to be a penalty. If he values his un-life so much, then we're going to steal his hoard and since he was a red dragon in life, that's going to hurt him more than any wound we could ever inflict.

After a minute of tense waiting the dracolich still has not made a reappearance. Is he waiting out your spell durations? Setting up an ambush? Or fled entirely?

Feel free to take any actions you would make during this time. The treasure pile is now on the map. Just as a marker, can't get it on the map layer as I don't have a mouse from this machine.

During the dragon's absence, Friar casts Detect Magic in Round 2 and starts pointing out the magical treasures so Valgrim and the rest of the party can start looting them. We will identify them later. After the arcane treasures, then the gems, then the platinum pieces until the 10 rounds is up.

At first glance no magic auras radiate from the tremendous pile of treasure, but things could easily be buried that you are unable to detect. The sickening green river still flows from the gaping wound torn into the top of the ziggurat and the negative energy miasma that fills the air would be draining the very life from you just standing where you are, if not for your death wards.

What do you do?

"I wonder what the effect of blessing this place would have. If we had the power to do so - that would seem to be a deity-level task, considering the source."

"We can't just wait around here. I've heard about dragons and their hoards. Let's take a few coins...it probably knows exactly how much gold it has, and it'll come find us soon enough,"